TUNISIA - Gas Pipelines.

The network of pipelines for the distribution of natural gas to local users has a total length of more than 1,000 km. It has been revamped with a modern remote-control system. The line has been mostly converted to methane by Societa Italiana per il Gas (Italgas). The network consists mainly of the following sections: A 300 km line for associated gas (mainly butane and methane) running from El Borma to Gabes - the first phase of the national network - on stream since 1973 with a 300 MCM/y capacity expanded in 1975 to almost 550 MCM/y. A parallel pipeline carries LPG from El Borma to a Gabes fractionator on stream since 1991. About of 500 km of spur lines built in the early 1980s for Algerian methane takes the gas from the TransMed pipeline linking Algeria to Italy through Tunisia and the Mediterranean (see background in Vol. 58, OMT No. 19).

The methane for the local market is supplied to users in industry and households from Tunis to Cap Bon, from Tunis to Bizerte, from Gabes to Sousse, from Gafsa to Kasserine, from Kasserine to cement plants at Tajerouine, from Hammamet to Nabeul where the users are mainly tourist resorts on the coast, and from Monastir to a power plant and factories at Sousse.

A 237 km line carrying methane produced at Tunisia's offshore gas field of Miskar runs from Gabes to Msaken. Completed in April 1995, this has a 6.5 km spur line to Tunis where it connects with the capital's gas network. Miskar, the largest gas producer in the country and operated by British Gas International (BGIT) has made Tunisia largely self-sufficient in natural gas.

BGIT sells its output to STEG under a contract which first called for the supply of 160 MCF/d of treated gas (out of 240 MCF/d of raw gas) for five years starting from mid-1995. From mid-2000, the contract committed BGIT to supply STEG with a minimum of 200 MCF/d. This volume was to be maintained until the field depletes. However, BGIT has raised the volume and has pledged to increase it to more than 350 MCF/d from 2007. The increase will come from Hasdrubal, a giant gas field being developed by BGIT.

STEG also buys gas from the Baguel and El Franig fields, which are linked to the national network by pipelines. STEG buys associated gas and LPG from the oil producing ventures as well.

STEG has been taking Algerian methane since May 1983. That was when the first phase of the Trans-Mediterranean natural gas pipeline (TransMed) from Algeria to Italy came on stream. TransMed passes through Tunisia in a 370 km section running from the border at Oued Saf-Saf to Cap Bon on the northern coast.